Chinese patriarchy refers to the history and prevalence of male dominance in Chinese society and culture, although patriarchy is not exclusive to Chinese culture and exists all over the world.

Male dominance is the unequal power in relation to men as a group over women. Although the terminology for male dominance has drastically changed internationally throughout the twentieth century, the imbalance in power between men and women has been a consistent part of Chinese patriarchy throughout the twentieth to the twenty-first century. ^[1]

It has been recorded that men have held the core role in Chinese families for quite some time. Even in the earliest records of historical women they were portrayed in ways that highlighted them as merely mens problems. ^[2] Although there have been strides made towards equalling men and women in China there is still a persistent imbalance of power in Chinese patriarchy.

Mencius outlined the three subordinations. A woman was to be subordinate to her father in youth, her husband in maturity, and her son in old age. ^[3] Familial relationships are prefixed, and family lifestyles and behaviours are constrained by social norms. ^[4]

A cliché of classical texts, which is repeated throughout the tradition, is the familiar notion that men govern the outer world, while women govern the home. In the Han dynasty, the female historian Ban Zhao wrote the Lessons for Women, advice on how women should behave. She outlines the four virtues women must abide by: proper virtue, proper speech, proper countenance, proper merit. The "three subordinations and the four virtues" is a common four-character phrase throughout the imperial period.^[5]

As for the historical development of Chinese patriarchy, women's status was highest in the Tang dynasty, when women played sports (polo) and were generally freer in fashion and conduct. Between the Tang and Song dynasties, a fad for little feet arose, and from the Song dynasty onwards foot binding became more and more common for the elite. In the Ming dynasty, a tradition of virtuous widowhood developed. Widows, even if widowed at a young age, would be expected not to remarry. Their virtuous names might be displayed on the arch at the entrance of the village.^[6]

Confucian conceptions of filial piety has been focused on preserving the traditional role of the father as the primary leader and decision maker of the family. In the hierarchy of traditional Chinese cultural family life, the father and sons take prominence over the mother and daughters.^[7]

Traditional practices in Chinese patriarchy consisted for a very long period of time with women having little to no say over there body. Traditions that included foot binding and arranged marriage in modern day Chinese culture have been virtually eradicated with little to no cases of being utilized unless wished to do so by the women themselves.^[8]

There is also the issue of forced abortions in China, especially for sex selection purposes; authorities have been accused of giving the women virtually no control over their bodies in this area.^[9]

In recent years the educational achievements on women in China have grown exponentially. Women have not only been scoring consistently higher but have also been pursuing higher levels of education. Even with the advancements in educational equalization there still seems to be a widening gap between male and female pay in China.^[10]

A lot of the foundation ideology of the Chinese society is based on Confucianism. Confucianism teaches the separation of gender role, that women should be responsible for family and domestic roles, while men handles the public responsibilities, facing the outside.^[11] Confucianism teaches that women are powerless and major power should be handled by men. ^{[12] [13]} That includes political power and domestic power like making family decisions. They argue that women are not worthy of taking on the family's name or property, and thus the offsprings should always inherit the father's last name.^[12] Women was considered the opposite of men, and thus the opposite of strong, being submissive and weak.^[14]

In 1919, with the May Fourth Movement, criticism of Confucianism's view on women begin to surface. People began to argue the misogyny nature of the confucianism theories.^[15]

Moving into the 1930s, nationalism tried to promote a non-confucianism ideology through their New Life Movement. This soon became a failure.^[16] At the same time, the communist party tried to exclude the confucianism ideology and campaigned on saving families from destructions. The new family structure and ideology was named "the new democratic family".^[17] This campaign did not change the patriarchy system in families in China. Women were still disadvantaged in families. This was also the time when more patriarchy- advocating policies were created.^[16]

1949 is a landmark year in China with the ascension of power to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese women gained suffrage right in 1949. While this marks significant changes in women's right in the political world, their rights in the families have not changed. As a matter of fact, women's political opinion were essentially a reflection of the men's political stands. ^[18]

The Culture Revolution in 1960s and 1970s marks the peak of criticism on Confucianism's patriarchal views. At this time, the west started to characterize Confucianism as the foundation of the patriarchy view.^[15]

In contemporary China, men hold most of the major positions of power within the country, especially in the political and military spheres. However, with the decline of traditional practices through the 20th century, women have come to enjoy virtually equal economic power.^[19] This is especially true in the cities, where the social stigma of being a working woman is virtually nonexistent, although skepticism of unmarried, career-minded women is increasing with women who remain unmarried past the age of 25 are shamed by state media with the label leftover women.^[20]

1. ^ "Male Dominance - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
2. ^ "Women in Traditional China". Asia Society. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
3. ^ Birdwhistell, Joanne D. (2007). Mencius and masculinities : dynamics of power, morality, and maternal thinking. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4294-7141-1. OCLC 140182566.
4. ^ Chen, Feinian (2005-04). "Residential patterns of parents and their married children in contemporary China: A life course approach". Population Research and Policy Review. 24 (2): 125–148. doi:10.1007/s11113-004-6371-9. ISSN 0167-5923. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. ^ "Lessons for Women, Ban Zhao [Pan Chao, ca. 45-116] | US-China Institute". china.usc.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
6. ^ "Chinese patriarchy". Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
7. ^ "Filial Piety (孝) in Chinese Culture". The Greater China Journal. 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
8. ^ Morgan, Matt; Benoudina, Samir (2013-03-11), "Foreign body in foot", Radiopaedia.org, Radiopaedia.org, retrieved 2022-03-21
9. ^ Fong, Mei (2016-09-01). "The Misconceived One-Child Policy Lives On". Current History. 115 (782): 240–242. doi:10.1525/curh.2016.115.782.240. ISSN 0011-3530.
10. ^ Qing, Shisong (2020-07-08). "Gender role attitudes and male-female income differences in China". The Journal of Chinese Sociology. 7 (1): 12. doi:10.1186/s40711-020-00123-w. ISSN 2198-2635.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
11. ^ Wong, Sin Kiong (2012). Confucianism, Chinese History and Society. World Scientific Pub. ISBN 9789814374477.
12. ^ ^{a b} Littlejohn, Lauren (April 20, 2017). "Confucianism: How Analects Promoted Patriarchy and Influenced the Subordination of Women in East Asia".
13. ^ Ko. Haboush. Piggott, Dorothy. JaHyun Kim. Joan (2003). Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan. California: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520231382.
14. ^ Batista, Juliana (2017-08-29). "The Confucianism-Feminism Conflict: Why a New Understanding is Necessary". Schwarzman Scholars.
15. ^ ^{a b} Rosenlee, Li-Hsiang Lisa (2012). Confucianism and Women- A Philosophical Interpretation. New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791481790.
16. ^ ^{a b} Stacy, Judith (1983). Patriarchy and Socialist Revolution in China. Berkeley: University of California. ISBN 9780520048263.
17. ^ Wemheuer, Felix (2019). New Democracy and the Making of New China (1949–1952). Cambridge University Press.
18. ^ Edwards, Louise. "Women's Suffrage in China: Challenging Scholarly Conventions". University of California Press.
19. ^ Jaschok. Miers, Maria. Suzanne (1994). Women and Chinese Patriarchy- Submission, Servitude, and Escape. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9781856491266.
20. ^ Fincher, Leta Hong (2014). Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. London: Zed Books. ISBN 9781783607891.